There was laughter in the room when John Lister ironically described the new NHS structure as “streamlined” and shared a Guardian graphic of the new bureaucracy. It set the tone for the NUJ’s Reporting on our health services masterclass, aimed at helping health reporters get to grips with confusing changes.

Lister, senior lecturer in health journalism at Coventry University, identified some of the main issues for journalists:

access to information

getting that information in a timely manner

getting a range of information – not just press releases, but also Board papers, statistics, other info that isn’t specifically targeted at the press

transparency

access to expert analysis. (You have the info, but can you make sense of it? Is there a specialist who can put it in context or add insight?)

He spoke about the slippery nature of transparency. For example, NHS England (the new name for the NHS Commissioning Board) is relatively open to reporting, but the real nitty-gritty decisions are made by Local Area Teams (LATs). Continue reading →

With over 200 of these groups and very few health journalists in the UK there’s an opportunity for student journalists and concerned citizens to play a key role in understanding what CCGs do – and scrutinising their activities.

There are a number of potential avenues to explore, from concerns about potential conflicts of interest in the new arrangements, to issues of accountability, whistleblowing, and efficiency.

In partnership with a number of news organisations and universities, we’re building a network of journalists, students and citizens to start pulling together information, exchanging tips and leads, and pursuing questions in the public interest.

Here are the health-related links that have caught our eyes between July 12th and September 19th:

The transfer of NHS assets to a central company marks the end of localism | Society | The Guardian– Tied to proposals for the centralisation of local NHS assets in a new, standalone company – the antithesis of localism – the powers represent, in reality, muscular centralism. For “big society”, read big government bent on privatising an NHS estate inherited often from local councils and charities.On the planning front, Pickles has now ruled that councils can be ignored when applications for large developments are tabled. They will be determined by a fast-track process at the already overworked Planning Inspectorate. The last government established an Infrastructure Planning Commission to do just that. Pickles scrapped it.

The walk-in centre is in the constituency of Labour MP for Sheffield Central, Paul Blomfield. He said he was “shocked” at the discovery, adding: “The walk-in centre is breaking the fundamental principle of the NHS – that treatment should be free at the point of use.

A draft version of the risk register that was prepared – but not released – as part of the Health and Social Care Bill has been leaked and is available above.

The leaked document has been widely reported on, with The Guardian noting that it suggests “Emergencies in the NHS could be less well managed under the government’s controversial health reforms”.

Other risks it reports include:

• “Greater costs if new GP-led consortiums make greater use of the private sector. “One example of area where system could be more costly is if GP Consortia makes use of private sector organisations/staff which adds costs to the overall system.”

• “A danger that the new system is set up too quickly, threatening the running of the NHS.

• “A loss of financial control. “Financial control is lost due to the restructuring of budgets distributed between or allocated to organisations within the system [to be clarified],” it said.

• “Unfavourable media coverage. “Public reputation. There is a risk that the transition will be presented in a negative light via the media. Two of the biggest risks which have already surfaced in the media are i) that the reforms will continue to be characterised through the prism of privatisation and ii) financial cuts.”

Here’s a useful ‘before and after’ illustration of the structure of the NHS now, and as it will look (as of April 2013) after the changes implemented by the Government. It helpfully illustrates the flow of money and accountability in the new system.

The page on A guide to the NHS is worth reading in full for those looking at health issues for the first time, setting out some of the key distinctions (such as that between primary and secondary care), how money flows, and where responsibility sits. Continue reading →

Data visualised by David Buck: NHS public health spending per head 2010-11 mapped to local authorities by local authority index of deprivation

Next year a huge chunk of money for health improvement services will be taken from local NHS bodies (PCTs – primary care trusts) and given to local government (councils) instead.

As a result, as David Buck explains, the Department of Health has had to quickly find out – for the first time – how much money is being spent on public health, so that it knows how much it needs to reallocate – and the result is particularly useful if you’re interested in previous spending or how it might change under the new system. Continue reading →